Finally Kerala hops onto infra fast lane
It is often said — only in half jest — that foreign tourists take about 12 hours to reach Kerala and about the same time to reach their destination within the state. Reason: the narrowest, most potholeinfested highways in India. Kerala is better off than many states on a number of social and economic indicators, but infrastructure is not one of them. The state is also a tourism hotspot, blessed with a glorious mix of beaches, backwaters and hills and lovely climate, but tourism-related infrastructure has long been in a shambles. Kerala’s economic landscape is freckled with such disconcerting dichotomy. It has three international airports — a fourth one about to be commissioned at Kannur — but the roads connecting them are terrible. It has many upscale hotels and super specialty hospitals but the quality of drinking water and waste management are awful. But change is in the air, finally. Kerala Finance Minister TM Thomas Issac, who presented the first budget of the Left Democratic Government (LDF) last week, announced an anti-recession investment package of Rs 12,000 crore to be spent entirely on infrastructure projects. Time to Hurry Issac had said the state is in a hurry to build its roads, bridges, ports and railways. “We have no time to lose,” he said before he presented the budget, referring to the shadow on Kerala’s remittance economy due to the economic woes in the Gulf that has already left many workers out of jobs. To be sure, the state has been making aggressive investments in infrastructure in the past decade. After the completion of the Cochin International Airport Project — the first airport in the country to be built with private participation — the state launched major tourism projects by roping in nonresident Keralites. A chain of large hotels, shopping, malls and convention centres sprouted in different parts of the state rapidly. Medical tourism got a fillip when NRI money was pumped into building super specialty hospitals. Soon after, the central government did its bit. A slew of projects, including major ventures such as the LNG Terminal project, the Vallarpadam Container Transhipment Terminal and the expansion of the BPCL refinery, formerly the Kochi Refineries Ltd were launched. The only hitch was all the projects were located in Kochi, limiting the scope of development. The current phase of infrastructure development bears no such inconsistency (see Kerala’s Infrastructure Push). It is spread throughout the state and covers a raft of sectors ranging from airports to ports to roads. In ports, much is expected from the development of the Vizinjam Container Port by Adani. The government hopes that the Vizinjam port would offer competition to Colombo port as it has a natural depth of nearly 20 metres, and ergo, allow even very large container carriers to anchor at the port (the previous Congress-led government signed the deal with Adani). Work on the Kochi Metro Rail project is progressing at a brisk pace. The first phase of 18 km of the Rs 5,100-crore project would be completed by early 2017. Plans are already underway to launch “light metro” projects in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode. The good news is that the drubbing the Congress-led UDF Government received in the assembly election this May has not changed the big picture. A Left front government is not usually known to be business friendly.But Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seems to be not cut from the same cloth as his other Marxist colleagues. After his first meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he made it clear that his government will give top priority to the completion of two long pending projects, the GAIL Pipeline project connecting Kochi with Mangalore and the widening of the highways. Still, the achingly slow pace of widening of highways in the state is a grim reminder of the challenges before the state government. The delays were due to opposition to land acquisition in many areas. Finally, the previous government decided to limit the width of highways at 45 metres. The central government has given into the state’s demand on the width. Likewise, in the case of the GAIL project, it was the opposition from some areas in Malappuram and Kozhikode that delayed the project. Another worry is the terrible state of finances. Kerala is grappling with rising revenue deficit and slow growth of tax revenue. No wonder the budget offered little leeway for measures to step up capital expenditure. That means the Rs 12,000 crore for infrastructure will be raised outside the budgetary framework, by floating a special purpose vehicle and making use of the SEBI and RBI approved financial measures. Now or Never Despite these challenges, development of infrastructure is inevitable. In its election manifesto, the LDF promised to create 25 lakh jobs in five years. The road to that target is through infrastructure. Kerala does not have much land to spare for industrialisation. The state also faces a severe shortage of power. The only way to attract industrialists is to create good infrastructure. Industry leaders say the government should focus on road development and better waste management techniques. “We have to urgently address these two problems,” says Jose Dominic, CEO of CGH Earth group of hotels. He says the tourism industry in the state which reached a peak in the early 2000 is witnessing a major slowdown. Cyriac Davies, MD, Kitco Ltd, says there is no shortage of money or technology. “What is needed now is the political will.” Wade Boggs Jersey
Brookfield may invest in govt-backed infra fund
Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian private fund manager with $240 billion assets under management, raised a $14-billion infrastructure fund on Tuesday. This is the largest ever fund raised for the asset class at a time when low interest rate and negative bond yield are forcing global investors to look for other opportunities. This might help the Indian government-backed National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF) rope in the Canadian investor for its Rs 40,000-crore corpus for reviving stalled projects and building new ones. Brookfield invests in India out of these global funds. In August last year, it made its first significant investment in Indian infrastructure by buying six road and three power projects from Gammon Infrastructure Projects. Brookfield joined hands with Core Infrastructure India Fund to buy these projects. Debt-laden Indian infrastructure firms have been selling assets in the past three years to deleverage their balance sheets. The deal included Rs 563 crore cash payment and undisclosed sums in the future based on certain performance targets. Anuj Ranjan, managing partner for Brookfield’s India business had said then: “(It) provides us a great platform to participate in the Indian growth story over the long term.” Core Infrastructure is a Kotak Mahindra Group-led infrastructure fund raised in June 2013. For this fund also, Brookfield and Japanese Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation together committed $90 million (Rs 490 crore) as the first close for the fund. Also, in June 2013, an affiliate of the Canadian firm, Brookfield Property Partners, bought majority stake in six IT parks owned by Unitech Corporate Park for Rs 2,049 crore ($347 million). This fund also comes at a time when the Indian government is in the process of establishing the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF). The government will hold a 49 per cent stake in this while majority will be owned by long-term investors such as pension funds and sovereign funds from across the globe. The government has already roped in Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Qatar Investment Authority and Rusnano of Russia for the fund. The government also appointed senior World Bank official Sujoy Bose as the CEO for NIIF, who is now leading the initiative to raise funds from global investors. “Brookfield is an obvious choice before the NIIF to get investment and their larger-than-expected fund has only facilitated that,” said the head of a rival global private equity giant. “It is an opportunity that funds like Brookfield will not let go, especially at a time when the focus is increasingly on emerging markets,” said an investment banker who has dealt with Brookfield and is familiar with its investment plans. Both the executives did not wish to be identified. A questionnaire sent to Brookfield on Wednesday did not elicit any response. “This fund-raising demonstrates that the demand for infrastructure investing is growing as investors continue to increase their allocations to real assets. We are excited about the opportunities we are seeing for investments,” said Sam Pollock, head of Brookfield’s infrastructure business, in a statement. In the past 18 months, Brookfield raised $27 billion across its flagship private fund strategies, including the close of its flagship real estate fund Brookfield Strategic Real Estate Partners II at $9 billion, and its flagship private equity fund Brookfield Capital Partners IV at $4 billion. All these funds crossed their fund-raising targets. The latest Brookfield Infrastructure Fund III exceeds the original $10-billion fund-raising target, reflecting a robust investment pipeline and strong investor demand for the asset class. BIF III’s predecessor fund closed in 2013 with $7 billion of total capital commitments. Investors in the Fund are a diverse group of 120 institutional investors, including public and private pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, financial institutions, endowments and foundations and family offices. Nearly 60 per cent of Brookfield’s investment money goes to projects in developed markets and 40 per cent goes into emerging markets that offer better potential upside coupled with greater risks. Brookfield’s funds might not remain the largest for long. Global Infrastructure Partners LP was seeking as much as $15 billion for its third flagship fund, Bloomberg had reported in November 2015. Zack Wheeler Womens Jersey
Contractors named in road scam pocketed Rs4,259 crore in 3 years
While Mumbaiites are complaining about the bad quality of roads, it has now emerged that a majority of the road repairs and reconstruction contracts — Rs4,259 crore out of Rs4,600 crore —were awarded to six contractors by the civic body in the past three years. The same contractors are now being probed by the police in the road scam for building sub-standard roads in the city. Experts have been pointing out how the poor quality of construction is a major reason why city roads develop potholes during the monsoon. This also throws light on the nexus between contractors, the civic administration and politicians. According to data accessed by the Hindustan Times, the six contractors named in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) report into the alleged irregularities in the construction of roads bagged a majority of road contracts between November 2012 and May 2015. With less than a month’s rainfall, more than 700 potholes have been found on the city’s roads. Some of these roads are even in the defect liability period (DLP) or the guarantee period provided by contractors — five years for asphalt roads and 15 years for cement concrete roads. In the past three years, almost all road contracts, except two or three, went to the same set of contractors. While some contracts of Rs50-100 crore were given to one contractor, projects costing more than Rs100 crore were given to joint ventures formed by these contractors. For instance, in January, a contract worth Rs387 crore for constructing cement concrete roads in the western suburbs was awarded to a joint venture of J Kumar Infraprojects and KR Construction. Likewise, another contract worth Rs248 crore for laying asphalt cover and improvement of roads in the island city was given to joint venture of Relcon Infraprojects and RK Madhani in February, 2014. The police have registered a first information report (FIR) against six contractors — KR Construction, J Kumar Infraprojects, RPS Infraprojects, RK Madhani, Mahavir Infraprojects and Relcon Infraprojects — in connection with the road repair scam under Indian Penal Code sections 120 (A) (Criminal conspiracy), 197 (producing false documents) and 420 (cheating). The BMC has initiated a process of blacklisting these contractors. A senior official from the civic body, who did not wish to be named said, “These contractors had a free run these past three years to bid and win tenders. In many cases, it was our officials who helped contractors through the bidding process. Even elected representatives in the civic body helped them.” Civic chief Ajoy Mehta has also come down heavily on civic officials after the road scam was revealed, for helping the contractors to get tenders and allowing substandard repair work. In his ‘action to be taken’ report, Mehta stated, “This large irregularity could not have taken place without the active and passive involvement of senior officials and officials at all ranks.” Significantly, the same set of contractors have undertaken other work of more than Rs1,500 crore in the city in various departments. Citizen groups have demanded a probe into all the contracts and want the civic body to adopt tough measures to ensure quality road construction. Shyama Kulkarni, a citizen activist from H west ward, said, “It is shocking that the same set of contractors have got all the major road works in the past few years. Why? They are responsible for carrying out shoddy road work, making it difficult for us during the monsoon. It is clear that the civic officials and contractors are working in connivance, or else it would have been impossible for the contractors to bag almost every contract.” Brett Favre Jersey
NHAI to lay out revival plan for troubled highway projs next wk
The government is set to address 19 languishing highway projects and CNBC-TV18 reports forward movement is likely within a week. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has formulated a revival scheme for three national highway projects, sources say. The proposal will be taken up at NHAI’s next meet on July 15 and two projects; the Chhapra-Hajipur expressway being developed by Madhucon Projects and Panvel-Indapur highway being developed by Supreme Infrastructure are likely to be taken up first. NHAI has formulated this revival scheme in consultation with a consortium led by State Bank of India Mack Hollins Womens Jersey
L&T in talks with Canadian pension fund to sell road projects
Larsen and Toubro Ltd (L&T), the country’s largest engineering and construction firm, plans to monetize its operational road projects, held by subsidiary L&T Infrastructure Development Projects Ltd (L&T IDPL), in a deal with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), according to three people with direct knowledge of the discussions between the two companies. A deal will be struck within six months, the three added, asking not to be identified. L&T is discussing with CPPIB the possibility of creating two road companies, one to develop new roads and the other to operate all the existing roads assets, group executive chairman A.M. Naik said in an interview on Friday. He did not disclose further details. A deal hasn’t been struck, said a senior L&T executive. “Nothing has been concluded (with CPPIB). Monetization of assets is a part of the plan, but in what form, we have not decided. Monetization will help IDPL focus on its next projects, which will require recycling of capital. So you can’t have capital stuck in commissioned projects,” said R. Shankar Raman, chief financial officer of L&T and non-executive chairman of L&T IDPL. A CPPIB spokesman declined comment for the story. As of 31 March, CPPIB had C$278.9 billion (around Rs.14.3 trillion today) in funds under management. The deal, when it happens, will be one of the biggest in the roads sector and give CPPIB a significant presence in India’s roads sector. It will also help L&T return to bidding for BOT (build, operate and transfer) road projects. CPPIB, the largest pension fund in Canada, has already invested Rs.2,000 crore in L&T IDPL in two tranches. The first tranche was invested in December 2014, marking the entry of CPPIB into India’s infrastructure sector. L&T got the second tranche of Rs.1,000 crore a year later. L&T and CPPIB are discussing different options—whether the pension fund will buy the entire portfolio of operational assets or a few individual assets—and working on a structure to carve out the road assets from L&T IDPL, which also houses the Hyderabad Metro project, the three people said. L&T IDPL owns and operates roads, bridges, the Hyderabad Metro project and the Kudgi Power Transmission Line. Out of its 17 road projects, 13-14 are operational. The firm has been vocal about its plans to eventually monetize its operational road assets to free up capital by way of a sale or an infrastructure investment trust (InvIT). In recent years, L&T has been hit by stalled industrial projects and a downtrend in the investment cycle. The company has only been bidding for road projects under the government- funded EPC model (engineering, procurement and construction) and kept away from bidding for BOT projects, under which a developer builds the project with its own money and earns annuity over the period of concession. Once it is able to monetize assets, L&T plans to start bidding for projects under BOT and the new hybrid annuity model to benefit from the government’s emphasis on roads, said one of the three people cited above. “L&T is working on a structure to transfer the operational road projects to the pension fund, while it will continue to hold a minority stake in the carved out portfolio. L&T cannot put more capital in the roads sector unless it monetizes existing projects,” this person said. L&T’s roads business has an estimated loss of Rs.600 crore. The firm has built around 7,800km of roads at a total project cost of around Rs.18,000 crore of which Rs.12,000 crore is debt. The L&T group, with its 82 business units, runs under a complex structure and is trying to simplify itself by divesting or monetizing non-core assets. L&T is trying to simplify its business structure and right-size capital allocation by sticking to core businesses, said Axis Capital in a report on 7 July. “The company will exit all non-core businesses (insurance, Kattupalli port, Rajpura power plant) over 1-2 years,” the report said. L&T, which builds and operates roads, ports and other infrastructure projects, has also evaluated listing some of its operational road assets through InvIT, a new structure cleared by capital market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) to ease access to funds for infrastructure developers. But the company is more inclined towards an outright sale, the second of the three people cited above said. Sebi is yet to remove “some of the constraints” in InvITs, Raman said. “There is acknowledgement of the constraints, but a formal withdrawal of restrictions has not yet happened.” CPPIB has invested more than $2 billion (around Rs.13,400 crore today) in India and that is likely to go up, the fund’s top management said during a visit to India in October. In India, CPPIB also has a strategic alliance with Shapoorji Pallonji Group, called SPREP Pte Ltd, and a real estate investment platform alliance with Piramal Enterprises Ltd, where both partners have committed $250 million each. Other large Canadian pension funds Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Public Sector Pension Investment Board are also looking to invest in the Indian infrastructure sector. Landon Collins Jersey
Chinese corporation to bid for Rs 40,000 crore highway contract in India
China Railway Construction Corporation, one of the largest construction companies in the world, has evinced interest in bidding for Rs 35,000-40,000 crore worth of highway contracts in India. Top executives of the Chinese construction major held a meeting with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) Chairman Raghav Chandra on Monday to discuss the proposal. “They are keen on bidding for around 3,000-km highway contracts. They will be participating in hybrid annuity, build-operate transfer (BOT) and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) models,” Chandra said. This would be the single largest foreign investment in the country’s roads sector if the Chinese company succeeds in fulfilling the criteria set by the government. The company could also bid for several expressway projects that are considered to be high traction in terms of return on investment. The Chinese corporation builds 60% of highways and 80 per cent of railway tracks in China. India’s road transport and highways ministry has set a construction target of 40 km per day, or 15,000 km for the current financial year. The target to award highway contracts is 25,000 km. Construction of 15,000 km of highways would cost around Rs 1.5 lakh crore. However, the ministry has received only Rs 57,000 crore as budgetary support and is hopeful of getting Rs 10,000 crore more from the finance ministry. A lot of foreign investors and construction companies have come forward to bid for road projects in recent months. Road transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari is slated to meet several investment firms, including JP Morgan and Goldman Sachs, during his ongoing US trip. The revival of investor interest in roads sector has been credited to 21 policy changes that the Narendra Modi-led government has introduced in recent months to make investments in the sector more attractive. The changes include relaxing the exit policy for investors and innovative payment methods in hybrid annuity and engineering, procurement and construction models. Investor interest in the sector had weakened drastically after 2010 due to difficulties related to land acquisition and getting various approvals, besides public opposition to toll collection. Projects worth less than Rs 10,000 crore were awarded in FY15. In the previous year, the value of projects awarded to public-private partnerships (PPPs) was less than Rs 1,000 crore, as companies were unable to raise funds. Adam Gotsis Authentic Jersey
China Rail Construction keen to participate in NHAI projects
Chinese government-owned China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) has evinced keen interest in participating in National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) projects, government said today. “A high-level delegation from the CRCC, led by its Chief Economist Zhao Jinuha, met Chairman, NHAI, Raghav Chandra and a team of NHAI officers in New Delhi,” Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a statement. Chandra told the visiting team that NHAI has projects lined up for upgradation of two-lane National Highways totalling 50,000 kms, various special expressway projects of around 15,000 kms and a part of the National Highways Development Programme (NHDP), over the next few years. “CRCC expressed keen interest to participate in the upcoming projects of NHAI under both engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) and hybrid annuity model (HAM),” the statement said. CRCC is one of the world’s largest integrated engineering contractor and construction groups with over USD 100 billion of revenue and a market capitalisation of around USD 250 billion. CRCC, apart from being the major contributor to China’s high-speed and normal, alpine and plateau railways, has provided survey and design services for highways, urban rail transit, real estate and other infrastructure projects. The CRCC team had an in-depth discussion on various aspects of such participation in NHAI projects, the statement said, adding that the visiting delegation enquired about the acceptance of Chinese technical standards. “NHAI officials clarified that they would be acceptable only if they are higher than the prescribed standards of Indian Road Congress. “Their queries mostly pertained to finding financial solutions with requisite IRR, addressing the upward price fluctuations during construction of essential materials like bitumen, fuel, steel and cement during the period of construction under the EPC and HAM,” the statement said. The Chinese delegates were also keen on knowing about any restrictions on sources of procurement from abroad, import certifications requirements, whether US dollars could be the currency of repayment (as annuity) and availability of repayment guarantee, it added. NHAI officials also sought details of Chinese policy and models of concessions and funding solutions, the statement said. “NHAI officials presented an overview of policy, procedures and risk and responsibilities distribution between the private and public partners and provided clarifications addressing the queries of the visiting CRCC delegates,” it said. CRCC officials expressed keenness to bid for projects within the framework of NHAI’s transparent and competitive e-tendering process. Abry Jones Womens Jersey
Infra sector offers a great opportunity for investors in India: Nitin Gadkari
India, which has set an ambitious target of constructing 40kms of new road per day next year, offers “a great opportunity” to American investors in infrastructure sector, Union Minister for Road and Surface Transportation Nitin Gadkari said today. “Fast track decision making system is there. It is a great opportunity for the investor in the country,” Gadkari said in his address to the Atlantic Council, a top US think tank. Listing out the key accomplishments of his ministry, the senior BJP leader said land acquisition and clearances are no longer a problem and all the contracts are allocated through e-tender system. Gadkari said he has set the ambitious target of constructing 40kms of new road per day next year. In response to a question, he acknowledged that his officials feel that this is not possible, but he exuded confidence that this is achievable. “I have got a political track record in my life, whatever I say, I accomplish. That’s my past, I do not know about the future,” he said during an interaction with Atlantic Council think-tank entitled ‘A Window into India’s Infrastructure Development: A Discussion with Minister Nitin Gadkari’. In his welcome address, Gen (rtd) James Jones said infrastructure development is a central part to the India-US trade relationship. The Minister is currently on a week-long visit to the US with the objective of attracting American investors to India’s infrastructure sector and technology transfer and adoption of best practices from the US. He is scheduled to meet the American businesses and the US Transport Secretary later in the day. Gadkari, who would also visit New York, St Louis, San Francisco and Los Angeles during the visit, rued the large number of deaths in India due to road accidents and described this as his failure. This is one of his priority area and is seeking assistance from the US in this field. “One per cent of the cost of the road we are giving to plantation and one per cent to road safety… we are here to understand the intelligence traffic system for that,” Gadkari said. “Attitude, approach and vision of the department has changed,” he said. “In rural and tribal areas, we have decided to make more national highways,” he said. By developing new waterways, highways with reducing logistic cost would be a game changer for the development of India, he said. Green technologies is another focus for his industry, he added. Brooks Laich Authentic Jersey
Road safety highest priority, US assures all help: Nitin Gadkari
The US will cooperate with India in making its roads safe by offering a range of innovative technology and software in intelligent traffic management to reduce road accidents in the country, Union for Road and Surface Transportation Nitin Gadkari has said. Acknowledging that road safety is a “big problem” in India, Gadkari said every year more than 150,000 people are killed in five lakh road accidents. “We are taking the co-operation of the US Government in particularly in road safety and intelligent traffic management system, which we are also going to implement in India,” he said. “I am very much disturbed (by the status of road safety),” he said. Gadkari said the US has also promised to give “all technical co-operation for standardisation of our Indian code” for road construction, bridges and flyovers. “Their experience and their present rules and regulations, codification, all the manuals are there and they are ready to share all types of manuals, code and rules and regulations with us,” he said. “In India we are critically facing the problem of road accidents. We have 96,000 kms of road length as national highway and 40 per cent of national traffic on this two per cent of road. We are facing a lot of accidents on national highway,” he said. “Road safety is highest priority for our government,” Gadkari told Indian journalists during a media round-table after his-day long meetings including that with US Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and American business community. “Today we discussed all our problems related to road safety with the (US Transportation) Secretary. The good thing is the Secretary promised me all types of co-operation with the rules, regulations, the software they have already developed, the system, the technology, the innovation. They are ready to co-operate with us in everything,” Gadkari said. During the meeting, the US also promised full co-operation in the development of inland waterways. The Minister also spoke on new highways under construction in the country, financing mechanisms under PPP models, framing policies for logistics parks, modernisation of roads, building intelligent traffic systems for road safety and further innovation and technology to India’s logistics sector. Rohit Kumar Singh, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, highlighted specific investment opportunities in the highways sector whereas Alok Srivastava, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Shipping, shared details on the Sagarmala Program – the Ministry’s flagship port-led development initiative to bring down logistics cost and boost investment, exports, and jobs. “India needs USD 1 trillion for developing new roads, ports, rail lines, and airports over the next few years and US companies can provide the necessary expertise as well as capital to enable the robust growth of this sector,” he said. Lawson Crouse Womens Jersey
Centres sanctions ₹658 cr for 5 projects to decongest Delhi
Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday announced that ?658 crore had been sanctioned from the Urban Development Fund for five projects to decongest the national capital. The five projects are construction of flyover and underpass connecting Mahipalpur, Aerocity, Airport and NH-8; and construction of flyover-cum-road overbridge near Narela for providing direct access from NH-1 to Bawana Industrial Complex. A skywalk and foot overbridge near ITO for safety of pedestrians going to offices located in and around ITO will be constructed apart from building an up-ramp and widening of road near Kashmiri Gate and Nigam Bodh Ghat. A 1.6-km-long Grade separator at Rani Jhansi Road will also be constructed. “The source of the Urban Development Fund is onetime charges for conversion from leasehold to freehold in properties leased by DDA,” Naidu told reporters here. A High Powered Committee on ‘Decongestion of Traffic in Delhi’ set up by Naidu had submitted a 126-page report, and its findings were released in June. Land premium rates Naidu also approved the rates of premium for lands allotted for institutional purposes by Delhi Development Authority (DDA). The rate for land required for health services such as medical institutions, hospitals, dispensaries required by the Centre and the Delhi government has been reduced to a nominal charge of ?1 a year. Moreover, rates for land to the Delhi government for un-remunerative uses such as maternity centres, night shelters and orphanages etc have also been reduced from earlier rate of 50 per cent of ‘no profit, no loss rate’ to ?1 a year. Similar decisions were taken for rates for land for DTC depots, staff quarters for schools and hospitals of local bodies, land for roads, graveyards and crematoria, playgrounds and parks, water supply and drainage for DDA colonies, etc. Tre Boston Jersey